Even as the Railways affirms that efforts will be made to develop major railway stations and underutilised premises, if any, as city centres, stakeholders have expressed concern at over 100 acres of prime railway land in the marshalling yard spread over Kathrikadavu-Ponnurunni area, located east of Ernakulam Junction railway station, lying grossly underutilised.
The fear is also rife that the land will be encroached upon, if there is any further delay in developing it as an Integrated Coaching Terminal (ICT), a project envisaged a decade ago.
The Railways had recently decided to make optimal use of prime land that abut railway stations, by replacing old low-height and sparsely-distributed buildings, if any, with multi-storey ones to tap the commercial potential of land.
